JKA 84

“……”

“Can you watch over Jiwoon for me?”

“What?”

“I don’t think I’ll be able to see Jiwoon’s smiling face in the time I have left. I’d like you to see it for me instead.”

At Seonwoo’s request, 1129 narrowed his brow. He wondered what meaning there could be in him seeing Jiwoon’s smile.

“I’m a coward who can’t find the courage to live again even while feeling this sorry, so I won’t be able to see it, but I think you will be able to. It’s not that long a time for you, is it?”

“I don’t know why I should have to do that.”

“……”

“If anyone’s going to see it, it should be you. What meaning is there for me to see it?”

“It doesn’t have to have any meaning.”

“……”

“It’s just that I think I’ll be at ease if you say you’ll watch over him. You don’t have to help with anything; I’d just like you to watch over him. I couldn’t become his guardian angel because I died like this, but it’s a selfish wish to want to give him at least an angel.”

Seonwoo found it laughable that he was only now, after dying, confessing his true feelings, but at the same time, he felt a strange sense of relief.

“…Something like a dream.”

“A dream?”

“I guess this is my dream.”

“……”

“Really… If I could, I’d want to do it myself. This is the first time I’ve wanted to do something this much.”

In the end, only after leaving with the help of another, he wanted to make a promise with 1129 that he couldn’t even confirm was kept.

“What’s your name?”

Seonwoo asked for 1129’s name, and at that moment, 1129 felt his body float up and his mind snapped back to awareness. While reading the decision fragment, he had at some point become assimilated with his self within the memory, and that had been broken. It seemed that the memory contained within the decision fragment ended here.

But 1129 wanted to read more. He tensed his entire body and tried with all his might not to be ejected. However, since there were no more memories to read, his vision began to black out from the edges, as if being eaten away by darkness. And then, without even being able to tell his name to the Seonwoo in the memory, he was finally ejected.

*

‘Clean up the mess you started until the very end. Don’t run away in the middle.’

17, somehow knowing that he was planning to bolt, had found him and insisted on seating him at the filming location. The board he had already set was completely shattered, and Egarsia had no intention of playing along with the humans’ ridiculous tune any longer, so he stood with his face scrunched up, unable to hide his displeasure.

Jiwoon, who had come for the remaining shoot, looked back and forth between Egarsia and 17, who had followed along saying he would help with the missing manpower now that Hanbyeol was gone. Yesterday, 17 had disappeared saying he had a good idea, and seeing the unpleasant look on Egarsia’s face at the film set, it seemed something had happened between the two of them.

As soon as he woke up, Jiwoon had called Hanbyeol to ask how he was. Hanbyeol had said he was fine and not to worry, but his voice had no energy. As he had always had a bright expression and voice, Jiwoon was still worried about Hanbyeol even as he left home for the shoot.

Perhaps that was why, even though it was obvious something had happened, he couldn’t bring himself to ask Egarsia or 17 what was wrong. It was because just thinking about what happened yesterday that Yeongeun was so impressed with was overwhelming enough.

Since he had run out in the middle of filming and hadn’t come back after that, he couldn’t understand what Yeongeun was talking about at all. That is, until he saw the scene in question, which she said was really good even after re-watching it.

On the screen Yeongeun was showing him were himself and Egarsia, but Jiwoon had no memory of filming such a scene. The him in the footage was, as Yeongeun had said, delivering the lines perfectly without stuttering once. And it wasn’t just the lines that were perfect. The emotional arc that Yeongeun was enthusiastically explaining beside him was perfect as well.

“The way he delivers the lines here is so good that it makes all the other scenes understandable. The original setting is that the hyung stutters, but he doesn’t in this scene, so it creates a clear distinction, shall I say? It really shows that he’s an apparition created by the protagonist.”

“Ah…”

“They’re both apparitions anyway, but this one is mixed with resentment, and that’s the younger brother’s guilt. So this hyung doesn’t stutter, and it’s a hint that the stuttering hyung is also an illusion created by the younger brother… Ah, does that sound a bit off? It’s not that stuttering is a problem.”

Yeongeun, who had been pouring out her impressions in excitement, realized her slip-up and glanced at Jiwoon, who had a somewhat dazed expression. Jiwoon had no particular thoughts about it, so he shook his head to say it was fine. That wasn’t the problem. He was just flustered because he had never acted like that before.

“I-I must have been possessed by something.”

Jiwoon said with an awkward smile. At that, Yeongeun laughed heartily and slapped Jiwoon on the back, thwack, thwack. It hurt, but at the same time, it didn’t. Jiwoon simply turned his head and looked at the busily moving 17. It seemed clear that this was his work. There was no way Egarsia would go so far as to deceive everyone and play two roles for his sake, was there?

Even if he had, he should have done it half-heartedly; what was he supposed to do now? Even if they asked him to do it again, he would never be able to, and today’s acting would obviously be a complete mess. Of course it would be. The person on the screen wasn’t possessed by anything, he was just 17, and he himself was Myeong Jiwoon.

“Oh, right. How’s Hanbyeol doing? Did you hear what happened?”

Yeongeun asked Jiwoon as if she had just remembered. Her attitude was natural, since she didn’t know the whole story.

“I-I heard, but i-it’s a p-personal matter, so i-it’s d-difficult to tell you… I called him this morning, and he s-said he’s o-okay.”

“That’s a relief. Sunbae and I stayed up all night organizing things in the club room, so we took the first train home. I barely got any sleep and came right out, so I couldn’t even contact him.”

“Y-You must be tired.”

“Ah… well. It’s okay since we’re doing this because we like it. Hanbyeol is so easygoing, you know? So even if he doesn’t go into detail, he’s the type to at least say something came up, but we were worried because we didn’t get any word from him. We were afraid it might be something serious.”

“……”

“Would he feel a bit burdened if I contacted him?”

“N-No. I d-don’t think so.”

“Right? It’s a bit strange not to contact him at all, too. I should leave him a message instead of calling. He helped out all day.”

Yeongeun took out her cell phone as if she had to do it now that she’d thought of it, and in the meantime, Jiwoon swiftly left his spot and went to 17. As it happened, 17 was organizing the filming props, and Jiwoon grabbed him and headed to a corner.

Once they were far enough away from the others that their conversation couldn’t be heard, Jiwoon spoke to 17, who was looking at him as if to ask what was wrong.

“Wh-What d-did you d-do?”

“I don’t know what you mean.”

“You h-heard everything. A-About yesterday’s shoot.”

“Ah, that.”

17 nodded as if he just remembered and said.

“It would have been strange if you suddenly disappeared and didn’t come back, so I acted as if I were Mr. Myeong Jiwoon.”

“Y-You pretended to be me?”

“Yes.”

“Y-You weren’t l-like m-me at a-all. That was j-just you a-acting with m-my f-face.”

“Yes. That is what I said.”

“No… th-that’s not it.”

How could you actually act? Jiwoon cried out with a mournful look. If he was acting as him, he shouldn’t have done it like that. That was just mimicking the outer shell and then performing real, proper acting, so he shouldn’t say he was acting as him.

“I was asked to avoid stuttering as much as possible, so I did.”

“…Th-That’s not something you c-can just d-do because someone a-asks, is it? If I c-could n-not stutter, I w-would have d-done it!”

Becoming flustered made it even harder to speak, and Jiwoon stuttered more than usual. 17 just had a vague expression that made it impossible to tell whether he understood Jiwoon’s words or not. Looking at that expression, Jiwoon felt his energy drain away for some reason.

Even if he held him here and pressed him, it was already in the past, and it didn’t seem like he would get a proper answer. Since it had come to this, he decided he might as well ask about something else, and Jiwoon looked at Egarsia standing in the distance and said.

“W-Were there a-any i-incidents with the d-demon? Yesterday, you talked about a g-good idea? something like that, didn’t you?”

“……”

“I-Is it o-okay for me to k-keep f-filming? With that d-demon?”

“Why do you ask such a thing?”

“Huh?”

“Mr. Myeong Jiwoon should do what Mr. Myeong Jiwoon wants to do. There is no need to get my permission for every single thing.”

“B-But…”

As 17 spoke in a tone that suggested it didn’t matter at all, Jiwoon felt a strange sense of déjà vu. He didn’t remember well, but he thought he had been told to avoid confronting the demon if possible. Of course, 17 hadn’t said anything when he said he would do the film. He had even come to the set like this and helped out.

It wasn’t what he had wanted, but he had even filled the empty spot he had left yesterday. He had followed along silently today without a word as well, so just as he said, filming with Egarsia wasn’t something that required permission for every single thing. But why? Something felt off.

“N-Not to get involved.”

“……”

“T-To avoid confronting him if possible. I th-think that’s what you said.”

Jiwoon narrowed his brow as if trying to recall something, and at that sight, 17 acted as if the inevitable had come and naturally changed the subject.